State Bond Money Starts to Flow for Cleanup of Santa Monica Bay

A long-delayed plan to clean up Santa Monica Bay is getting its first infusion of cash for an array of projects--from reducing trash and toxic substances to replanting vanishing kelp forests.

The first installment of $3.9 million in state park bond funds will accelerate the cleanup of the bay, one of the nation’s most troubled coastal waters. The money arrives more than seven years after a coalition of government officials, businesspeople and environmentalists cobbled together a landmark plan designed to heal the bay.

“This is when the dream of cleaning up the Santa Monica Bay comes one step closer to reality,” said H. David Nahai, chairman of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Officials on Tuesday unveiled 16 research and cleanup projects that will kick into high gear an “action plan” set forth in 1994 to protect human health and restore the natural environment of the bay and its estuaries.

State Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) noted that Proposition 12, passed by the voters in 2000, has designated a total of $25 million for bay cleanup projects. The money is expected to begin arriving in waves in coming years.

The first ripple of cash will allow Los Angeles County officials to install as many as 200 catch basins to collect trash as it enters storm drains that carry water into Ballona Creek.

With their $600,000 portion, county officials also plan to experiment with new contraptions that act as huge filters. The devices, tested in Australia, allow trash and toxic substances to settle on the bottom while skimming oil off the surface.

Donald L. Wolfe, the county’s assistant director of public works, said all the trash collected will be scrutinized by county officials, who want to figure out where it comes from and how to stop it at its source.

Culver City and West Hollywood also received some of the funds--money that will go to install storm drain catch basins for trash and other pollutants.

The other projects are wide ranging. They include:

* The city of Malibu, which has resisted putting in sewer lines, will get $667,000 to study the effects of septic tanks, long suspected of leaking bacteria and other pollutants into Malibu Creek and lagoon.

* The California Department of Parks and Recreation will receive $200,000 to study removing Rindge Dam, which has long blocked steelhead trout from swimming up Malibu Creek to historic spawning grounds.

* The Ocean Discovery Center on the Santa Monica Pier will get $284,000 to expand its educational program for schoolchildren.

* Cal State Monterey Bay will receive $423,000 to survey the floor of the bay, and Santa Monica BayKeeper will get $50,000 to begin a kelp replanting program.

* The Mountains Restoration Trust will collect $189,000 to try to eradicate a bamboo-like weed called arundo from 105 acres around Malibu Creek.

Other projects include setting up a restoration plan for Topanga Creek Lagoon, studying western pond turtles in that lagoon, and creating a stream health index for Malibu Creek and its headwaters.

All of these projects fall under the watch of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project. The project is one of 28 national estuary programs overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up polluted bays and estuaries of national significance.

“We’ve done a really good job creating a restoration program for each of these estuaries and making no money available to implement them,” said Mark Gold, executive director of the environmental group Heal the Bay.

“That’s why this is so important,” he said. “For the very first time, significant dollars will go to implementing parts of the plan.”

Nahai of the regional water board noted that the cleanup projects will help, but they are no panacea for restoring the health of the bay as long as urban runoff remains the biggest source of pollution.

Millions of gallons of oil and grease, toxic chemicals, animal waste, debris and metallic particles wash from parking lots, frontyards, streets and freeways into Los Angeles County’s vast network of storm drains every day.

The flows increase a thousandfold after rainstorms, studies show, and all end up in the bay.

“What is on the streets ends up in the ocean,” Nahai said. “If we could just change our behavior a little bit.”